One person no one will miss is the star of the movie, Thierry Guetta, a.k.a. Mr. Brainwash, who has become something of a Hollywood get.

“I just went to dinner three days ago at Weinstein’s and I was sitting next to Sharon Stone and Adrien Brody,” Mr. Guetta said, at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon, where he accepted the best documentary prize in paint-splattered jeans. “I was just normal. I talked to Sharon Stone. She’s great. She has good energy and she loves what she does.”
Mr. Guetta will be attending the Oscars; even on Saturday he had his ticket with him. “If I die, I die with it,” he said, pulling it out of his jacket pocket. He spent much of the Spirit Awards running around the room talking to people, and posing with his friend Matthew Libatique, the cinematographer of “Black Swan,” another Spirit Award winner. Mr. Guetta was not much of a presence this award season, but if he had been, it might have cleared up some of the questions about the film: in person, he’s not far removed from how he appears on screen. He does get recognized now, he said, and people sometimes ask him if he’s Banksy. How does he convince them he’s not?

“When they don’t believe I slap them and say, are you hurt? It’s me!” he said. “Do you feel like I’m real? Do you want me to punch you? ‘No, no, it’s okay, you’re real.’”

In conversation, Mr. Guetta, a Frenchman, is elliptical, following a positive-vibes dialogue only he seems to understand. For example:

Did he feel like he was part of the film community?

“It’s another journey,” he said. “It’s like, left, right, center.”

Was there anybody he was excited to meet at the Oscars?

“Everybody for me is an actor, everybody is a beautiful person.”

In L.A., that’s certainly true.

“Like anywhere, anywhere in the world. You meet a bad one, you meet a good one, that’s why you love the good one because there is a bad one.”

Does he like award shows? They can be kind of boring.

“I see good everywhere,” he said.

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Cara Buckley is your guide on the red carpet to the news and the nonsense of awards season, covering the Golden Globes, the Oscars and more. The Carpetbagger will take a look at films and the people who make and star in them. She's joined by Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes in Los Angeles, Larry Rohter on foreign-language films and documentaries, Mekado Murphy on the technical craft of filmmaking and Rachel Lee Harris on costume design. Tips are always welcome.